Maharaja | Avery Brewing Company

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Notes / Commercial Description:
Maharaja is derived from the sanskrit words mahat, meaning “great”, and rajan, meaning “king”. Much like its namesake, this imperial IPA is regal, intense and mighty. With hops and malts as his servants, he rules both with a heavy hand. The Maharaja flaunts his authority over a deranged amount of hops: tangy, vibrant and pungent along with an insane amount of malted barley – fashioning a dark amber hue and exquisite malt essence. Welcome to his kingdom!

Reviews by ztcoll:

More User Reviews:

Maharaja quickly became classic among the über hopheads. We guess we fall into the group somehow, bring on the hops!
More than ample lacing from this extremely hoppy beer, bright copper hue. Big punget oily hop aroma of tobacco, hemp seeds, grapefruit zest and fresh mint leaves. Big oily smoothness in the medium to full body. Lots of hop flavor on the palate, fresh hop oil, herbs and mint, bitter tobacco, a touch of hemp oil with some earthiness. Maltiness stands strong with spikes of caramel and bready flavors. Alcohol brings some warmth and fruitiness to the table with more of a subtle pear and mango flavor. Hop bitterness is all around and never leaves even far into the bittersweet finish, more of a mellow bitterness that's thick.

American beer at its best here, hopefully it's one more known example where the industry is going and how far it can reach when it comes to the level of flavor. If you are a hophead and have yet to try this beer, what are you waiting for?!!

Super big DIPA brewed for an older time when making a DIPA instead of an IPA meant the malts were doubled and the hops were almost doubled and all put in the kettle. Double dry hopping and leaving the malts lighter and adding oats and flour would come much later. It's weird to say that a 10+ year old beer is a bit of a relic but I think in the insanely trendy and dynamic craft beer world it is a bit true. This DIPA was no doubt a king for its time but has now been usurped by more agile and younger DIPAs looking to make their claim.

Drink this in the cooler days of fall and think of the craft movement from years back with rose colored glasses, if necessary.

Nice to try another big bad double IPA,pours a slightly hazy deep orange with a tight one finger head that leaves a sheet of lace behind on the way down,well what would you expect from a double IPA aroma wise HOPS and more hops in the aroma pine and definent grapefruit coming thru srong not much malt profile but it wasnt expected.This beer coats the tongue somewhat thick in the mouthfeel dept the alcohol flavor doesnt overpower though by any means,big resiny and citrusy can make the tongue curl.Not quite as good in my opinion as its Colorado cousin Great Divid Hercules double IPA but this is no chump damn fine beer.

The second beer of the sample I took last night. I was very excited to finally be able to try this one on tap. Consumed on 04/03/2009.

The pour was very nice with a rich light golden amber. Smooth and very cloudy, this thing looked like it was about to kick my ass, and as I was about to find out, it was defintley going to. Lots of ripe grapefruit and pineapple hops that just tore through the air as soon as I leaned in to it. Huge notes of hops dominated the entire flavor as well. Sharp flavor here as the resin like hops took all the moisture out of my mouth and left me parched, dry and looking for more. One of the best finishes I have had in a big IPA in a very, very long time. I would love to try this one again and will defitely be on the lookout to try it again.

A: The beer is slightly hazy light amber-orange in color and has a light amount of visible carbonation. It poured with a finger high beige head that died down but thick rings of bubbles on the surface around the edge and down the sides of the glass.
S: There are moderately strong aromas of citrus hops in the nose—grapefruit stands out in particular.
T: Like the smell, the taste is filled with flavors of grapefruit and also has notes of caramel malts, pine resin hops and hints of sweetness. There is a light amount of bitterness.
M: It feels medium-bodied and relatively crisp on the palate with a moderate amount of carbonation. There is a bit of dryness and hints of stickiness in the finish.
O: This beer is definitely a sipper given its strength. However, it’s not all that difficult to drink because only hints of alcohol are noticeable in the taste.

Thanks to knucks999 for sending a fresh bottle of this to me as an extra in a recent trade!

A: The pour is absolutely gorgeous and just about perfect for an IPA. Amber in color with great clarity and a fluffy white head which leaves some great lacing.

S: The nose if full of grapefruit, pineapple, and some other tropical fruits. A blast of pine finishes things off quite nicely.

T: The flavor is fairly sweet with plenty of fruit notes. The grapefruit is not all that bitter and there is a lot of pineapple. The fruit is followed by a sweet caramel malt flavor and the sip is finished off by bitter pine.

M: The body is medium to full (for an IPA) with a moderate level of carbonation.

D: I was very pleased by this beer. I had it back when I first started getting into beer and wasn't impressed (very likely an old bottle), but this is really a great DIPA and very easy to drink.

I'm not the hop expert but this is "tropical" and "bitter/onion/garlic" hops combined. My saliva 5 minuets after drinking this tastes better than half the beers I drink. There is a great extra long taste cycle from the first thing you taste to the last.
Maybe the best xIPA for me this year. Avery goes back to the top of the brands after the disappointing or misunderstood Kaiser release a few months ago knocked them down for me.
Thanks Avery guys. This compares to the most savory stuff I can concoct on the grill. Can't give anything a perfect cuz I know it is something still out there , ya'll are probably drinking it now.

Pours a clear honey brown with a khaki head that settles to a film on top of the beer. Huge foamy rings of lace form around the glass on the drink down. Smell is of citrus zest and herbal hops, honey, and malt. Taste is of citrus zest and herbal hops up front with a nice honey, brown sugar, and malt finish. There is a medium bitterness on the palate with each sip. This beer has a lower level of carbonation with a medium bodied mouthfeel. Overall, this is a very good DIPA with a very nice balance in both the aromas and flavors.

Medium to high bitterness but smooth for 10% ABV. Big - almost creamy - with dank, oily hops, orange rind, fermented honey, and potpourri. The malts are almost raisin-y mid-palate. Bitter orange-caramel candy.

Mouthfeel is medium to full.

Overall, this is a good DIPA but a touch rough around the edges. I admittedly prefer juicier, fruit-forward IPAs, and this can is 2 months old. It's oily, aromatic, and resinous in the same way Nugget Nectar is. Pretty solid but bold.

Extremely well balanced DIPA. Hops and malts share equal billing on the nose and tongue. ABV is hidden very well and it goes down smooth. However, I'd much rather spend half the money and get an equally good if not better DIPA in Lagunitas Hop Stoopid.

Burnished orange-copper with golden butterscotch accents. Even though the pour wasn't overly aggressive, the head filled most of the pint glass. It's somewhere between palest caramel and ivory in color, with an upper surface that is occupied by thousands of fragile, glassy bubbles. A thick blanket of lace is currently visible.

The nose is the hop monster that was anticipated. However, two things keep me from being wildly enthusiastic. The citrus and spruce of Centennial and Simcoe aren't helped by what I assume is the contribution from Magnum. The second thing is that the almost double digit alcohol is incompletely buried.

The same faults apply to the flavor profile, although I hesitate to use that word in what is still a delicious beer. The bulwark-like maltiness practically oozes sweet, sticky caramel. I'm not sure about an 'insane quantity of malted barley', as the label claims, but it's at least mentally unbalanced. Maharaja is sweeter than most DIPAs. Probably too much so.

What would a DIPA be without hops? Relax, that's strictly a rhetorical question. While this DIPA has a massive amount of them, it doesn't have the 'deranged amount' that the label would have us believe. What is it with Avery and mental illness? (rhetorical again). Like the aroma, the flavor is dominated by candied citrus peel and pine sap, but the less desirable flavor qualities of the Magnum hops keep getting in the way.

Any beer with this much malt is bound to have a killer mouthfeel. It's expansive, smooth as heavy silk and some kinda likeable. It promotes sipping rather than gulping, which is a good thing since the beer tastes like a 12%'er and drinks like one too. Time and warming have smoothed some of the initial rough edges.

Maharaja Imperial India Pale Ale is the antithesis of a well-mannered DIPA. It's big, bold and bombastic. Avery has a penchant for brewing Big Beer, but they tend to forget that refinement is a necessary quality in even the biggest beer. The relatively high scores that I've granted are a testament to my love of all things hoppy. I'm guessing that those of you who don't belong to 'Hopheads For Life' won't feel so generous.

Pours a nice copper and amber color with some shockingly excellent clarity; a light beige, creamy, fine-bubbled head tops this one off and leaves little bits of lacing on its way down the glass. Big-time pine and citrus hits your nose right away; mild pineapple, grapefruit, orange zest. The hop profile is lightly peppery, piney, and leafy. As it opens up, it becomes more weed, dank, and pungent. The hop bill is met with an equally powerful malt bill; sweet, toasty, steely caramel and light brown sugar on the nose. Again, there are some light spices, mostly reminiscent of white pepper, floating around in the aroma.

The taste hits big with a uniquely pungent and sweet hop flavor, alongside a faint cinnamon and white pepper spiciness. Upon tasting, the hop profile seems to be a little more floral and perfume-like than the nose would have you believe. Caramel malts are present, and heavy at that, maybe almost too powerful for a DIPA. Sweet bread and butter also comes alive thanks to the hefty malt bill. There's a nice sharp bitterness brought in from the leafy hops, followed closely by a nice, counterbalancing sugar-coated grapefruit flavor. Little bits of citrus sift into the aftertaste with a dying leafy and floral flavor from the hops. Medium-thick body with middle of the road carbonation.

Decent DIPA, although maybe a tad overrated in my opinion. Little heavy on the malt, I would've liked to see a little more hop flavors jumping out, although the hop profile was pretty unique in its own right.

Pours a standard burnished caramel orange with 2 plus fingers of sticky head that leaves some light lacing.

Pineapple is the dominant smell coming out of this one along with citrus fruits, a hint of pine and a big billboard stating: Warning, major caramel malt!

Yep, the billboard wasn't lying. Hefty sticky sweetness with a touch of acridity and roast, pine and citrus hops keeping up though. BIG is the word I'd use, no surprise though from Avery. Pretty typical American DIPA, big all around, plan is to knock your socks off. Pretty well executed.

Plenty of crisp carbonation keeps this one from weighing your mouth down, yet the hefty nature of this and the sweetness of the malt make this a no-more-than-one-bottle beer.

A: Nice golden orange color with slight light brown. Overall very bright colors that are extenuated even more by the off-white/ivory head that has tightly knitted bubbles and retains decently well. Slightly murky consistency

S: An unexpected citrus/sweet hops aroma that gives you a pleasant wake up call to the sniffer. I got strong alcoholic aromas out of this too, which did not hurt the overall quality but gave it a balance that really sets you up for the taste.

T: Great earthy and piney hops flavors that hit first like they should. Sweet malts: grapefruit, lemon, and citrus. The alcohol plays an important role in the taste as well and specifically balances out the citrus and bitter malts to be more rounded and complex (I think that's where the more tropical signatures are coming from). Real great.

M: Medium bodied that gives you the bitterness that an Imperial IPA should have (102 IBUs on this one), touch of the sweet malts that makes this one unique, and the alcohol that brings it full circle

D: To start I liked the way that maharaja isn't about specifically showing off a hoppy bitterness. There is much more involved then sucking your tongue out your face. Also, with a 10.69% abv, I would have thought the alcohol (though also appreciated) would have drowned me out a bit... It didn't. Its not to be taken lightly, but not feared at all. I liked it a lot and in many ways solidified my good opinion of Avery in stone. A great try and recommend snagging one. For those out there wanting to match food, I had maharaja with a dank roasted turkey sandwich with some biting jack cheese, made it all the better.